Out of School Children Profiling: Barriers to Education for Syrian children in Lebanon

The majority of refugees crossing the border into Lebanon are children1 and providing them with an education is a top priority. However, despite having generously open access to its schools for a large number of refugee children, the Lebanese education system (LES) and its public schools lack both the capacity and the resources to accommodate the large increase in the number of school-aged children. This, along with a complex interrelated set of other barriers, has resulted in a large out of school population among Syrian children and youth. While the exact number of out of school children is unknown, UNHCR estimates that 420,000 Syrians aged 6-14 are in need of education services2, and many of these children have been out of school for 2 or more years.

This report aims to paint a clearer picture of these out of school children (OOSC) and better understand their profiles and the barriers they face in order to strengthen UNHCR’s planning for the next academic year. The findings of this assessment will feed into the design of the strategies to enrol them in programmes adapted for their age and needs. It will also call to attention the need for additional research on the out of school population in order to have more effective targeting of these beneficiaries.